Preview: Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs. Villarreal - prediction, team news, lineups

While the Yellow Submarine won a seven-goal thriller in their opening group game, their Israeli counterparts played out a goalless draw last week.

Match preview

After two successive defeats in the Israeli top flight, Hapoel Be'er Sheva picked up a point in their opening Europa League group game against Austria Vienna last week.

Elyaniv Barda's side failed to register a single shot on target in the 90 minutes, but their defensive resilience was one positive they could take away from their draw in the Austrian capital.

Be'er Sheva did managed to find their goalscoring touch in the Israeli Premier League last Sunday as they came from behind on two occasions to win 3-2 away against Hapoel Tel Aviv, with Eugene Ansah scoring an 82nd winner.

The Camels are now preparing for their first ever meeting in European competition with Group C favourites Villarreal. Their only previous encounter against Spanish opposition was back in the 1995-96 UEFA Cup when they suffered a 12-0 aggregate defeat in a first-round tie against Barcelona.

Villarreal followed up their comfortable 4-0 La Liga win over Elche by scoring four more goals in their entertaining 4-3 victory over Lech Poznan in the Europa League last week.

After falling behind in just the second minute, the Yellow Submarine scored three goals before half time through Samuel Chukwueze and Alex Baena (2), but Poznan restored parity with a second-half brace from Mikael Ishak. Unai Emery's side were seemingly on course to claim a point until Francis Coquelin netted an 89th-minute winner.

That result extended Villarreal's unbeaten start to the new campaign to seven matches, but this run has since come to an end as they were beaten 1-0 away at Real Betis in La Liga last weekend.

Emery and co will be confident of returning to winning ways on Thursday, especially on home soil where they have lost just two of their last 18 competitive games.

However, Villarreal have won only one of their previous four European matches against Israeli opposition and drew their only two away visits in 2017 and 2020 against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Europa Conference League form:

Hapoel Be'er Sheva form (all competitions):

Villarreal Europa Conference League form:

Villarreal form (all competitions):

Team News

Hapoel Be'er Sheva boss Barda decided to rest former Brighton & Hove Albion striker Tomer Hemed last weekend, but the 35-year-old is expected to replace Astrit Selmani in the starting lineup on Thursday.

Midfielder Shay Elias and left-back Eitan Tibi are also set to be recalled to the first XI at the expense of Eden Shamir and Helder Lopes respectively.

The rest of the starting lineup is expected to remain the same, with winger Rotem Hatuel - who scored four goals in six Europa Conference League qualifiers earlier this season - set to join Hemed and Magomed Suleymanov in the front three.

As for Villarreal, left-back Alberto Moreno remains out with a knee injury, while Juan Foyth and Arnaut Danjuma are both doubtful and will be assessed ahead of kickoff.

Emery made 11 changes to his starting lineup over the weekend and he may decide to make wholesale changes again on Thursday.

The likes of Geronimo Rulli, Pau Torres, Etienne Capoue, Dani Parejo and Gerard Moreno could be dropped to the substitutes' bench, with Filip Jorgensen, Jorge Cuenca, Manu Morlanes, Francis Coquelin and Jose Luis Morales all handed starts as a result.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva possible starting lineup:

Glazer; Dadaya, Abu Abaid, Vitor, Tibi; Elias, Bareiro, Micha; Suleymanov, Hemed, Hatuel

Villarreal possible starting lineup:

Jorgensen; De la Fuente, Mandi, Cuenca, Mojica; Chukwueze, Coquelin, Morlanes, Trigueros; Morales, Baena

We say: Hapoel Be'er Sheva 1-3 Villarreal

With Villarreal set to make several changes to their starting lineup, a close affair could be on the cards on Thursday.

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